Monday, November 30, 2009

Story-Here is the first picture of Lottie’s baby (sent by Matt our manager) born in the forest few weeks ago. Lottie was released in June 2008 and she is with 4 other released chimps at the moment.

Lottie and her wild born baby

She is a great mother as she already raised one son, Andrew, born the 14th of August 2000 at the sanctuary, and released with her in June 2008. Andrew left his mother’s group in November 2008 but he had been seen several times since then.

We are confident that Lottie will be able to take really good care of her baby (we still do not know if it’s a boy or a girl) as she was a wonderfull mother for Andrew.

Many thanks for all your messages of support for Fatim’s death. It means a lot to us.

As you can read below how devastating it is for a Great Ape to lose their babe. This is exactly how the Chimpanzee Mums feel when breeding facility, such as Missouri Primate Foundation, Connie Braun takes their Babes away. What a shame. Poor Mums, Poor Babes.

Story-A Mixed Year for Gorilla Infants

November 2009, DFGFI Field News

Since January of this year, 10 infant gorillas have been born into the mountain gorilla groups that we monitor from the Karisoke Research Center. Infant gorillas are very vulnerable during their earliest days, however, and at this time only six of the newborns are still alive.

Of the four deaths, three occurred in October, in an unhappy sequence, on Oct. 2, 7 and 19, but their deaths were unrelated though similar in some ways.

Mukecuru and infant" vspace="5" align="right" border="0" hspace="10">On Sept. 22, Mukecuru, from Pablo’s group, gave birth. The infant seemed to be fine and healthy in his first week of life. He was nursing and his mother was carrying him properly, showing good mothering experience. Suddenly, after a week, the infant gorilla began making strange vocalizations, which carried on for an entire day. The noise was not like a normal cry but more like a very loud pant. The baby then stopped nursing. The vocalizations attracted the attention of all 46 group members. They stopped their activities and surrounded Mukecuru looking at the baby with curiosity. Mukecuru did not eat or move, visibly stressed about the infant’s problems.

On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Mukecuru and the infant could not be located, despite the extensive efforts of the Karisoke field trackers, including looking for them under all the bushes. During that period Pablo’s group was ranging in a high-altitude zone called Kimbagira on the slope of Karisimbi volcano. The area is particularly dense with thorny vegetation typical of the alpine zone.

Mukecuru was finally found on Oct. 2, but unfortunately the infant was dead. She carried it for five days, a method of trying to protect it from the curious approaches of other group members. When she finally let it go, trackers could not locate the corpse, so a necropsy was not possible.

Mukecuru did not develop a swollen breast following the sudden end of lactation, which led us to assume a problem with milk production as a possible cause of death.

Mukecuru is an old female, estimated to be 29-30 years old. She was first seen in Pablo’s group in 1995, as she transferred from Susa’s group. She has three living offspring, two of whom are still with her in Pablo’s group. The other one emigrated in 2007. Mukecuru lost her fourth infant at the end of 2007, a day after its birth and that case had some similarities to the current one.

Muntu and infant" vspace="5" align="right" border="0" hspace="10">On Oct. 7, an infant died in Isabukuru’s group. This infant was born on July 9 to 17-year-old mother Muntu and the exact cause of death is unknown. The infant seemed to be in good health, nursing from mother and moving normally, but on the morning of Oct. 7, he was found dead and Muntu was carrying the body. She was stressed and, together with the dominant silverbackIsabukuru, aggressively charged trackers trying to avoid any human proximity. Some hairs from the baby were found in the night nest and along the trail. This evidence and the stressed behavior of the gorillas led us to suspect some kind of an aggression had taken place, although no signs of intergroup interactions were found around the group and no wounds were observed in any gorillas including the dead infant. Again, the mystery couldn’t be solved since trackers were unable to locate the body of the infant after Muntu eventually let it go.

On Oct. 19, 17-year-old female Nyabitondore from Pablo’s group gave birth, only 10 months after her transfer from Susa’s group. Her infant was found dead the same morning and it is unclear whether he was stillborn or died a few hours after birth. The infant’s dimensions were normal and no external sign of illness or trauma were observed. Once again the mother carried the infant for some time and the body couldn’t be recovered for necropsy.

Submitted by Veronica Vecellio, Karisoke Research Center, Gorilla Program Manager

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) was founded in 2003 to provide sanctuary for chimpanzees discarded from the entertainment and biomedical testing industries. On June 13, 2008 the first residents of the sanctuary arrived. This group, now called the Cle Elum Seven, were living in the windowless...

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) was founded in 2003 to provide sanctuary for chimpanzees discarded from the entertainment and biomedical testing industries. On June 13, 2008 the first residents of the sanctuary arrived. This group, now called the Cle Elum Seven, were living in the windowless basement of a biomedical research facility before coming to CSNW. They had been used for decades as biomedical research subjects and to produce more chimpanzee babies for research.

The sanctuary is located on a 26-acre farm in the Cascade mountains, east of Seattle. Our mission is to provide lifetime quality care for formerly abused or exploited chimpanzees, while advocating for great apes through education and collaboration. We share the personalities of the chimpanzees and their transformations in sanctuary through our website and blog

Noisy and curious, intelligent and social, the chimpanzee is the mammal most like a human. Chimpanzees fascinate humans and are favorites both in zoos and the wild.

Three subspecies of common chimpanzees are distributed across the forest zone of Africa from Guinea to western Tanzania and Uganda. Another species of chimpanzees, the bonobo (Pan paniscus), is found exclusively in central Democratic Republic of Congo. In East Africa the chimpanzee is found in the wild in Tanzania and Uganda, but only in captivity in Kenya. Gombe National Park in Tanzania is the first park in Africa specifically created for chimpanzees.

Physical Characteristics The chimpanzee has a thickset body with long arms, short legs and no tail. Much of the body is covered with long black hair, but the face, ears, fingers and toes are bare. They have hands that can grip firmly, allowing them to pick up objects. The discovery that they used "tools" for certain purposes surprised the world.

Habitat Chimps are mainly found in rain forests and wet savannas. While they spend equal time on land and in trees, they do most of their feeding and sleeping in trees.

Behavior Chimps live in groups called troops, of some 30 to 80 individuals. These large groups are made up of smaller, very flexible groups of just a few animals, perhaps all females, all males or a mixed group.

Chimps sometimes chew leaves to make them absorbent and then use them as a sponge, dipping them in water and sucking out the moisture. They also use grass stems or twigs as tools, poking them into termite or ant nests and eating the insects that cling to them. They are able to wedge nuts between the roots of a tree and break the shells open with a stone.

Chimps are both arboreal and terrestrial, spending much of their daytime hours on the ground. They are quadrupedal, walking quickly on all fours with the fingers half-flexed to support the weight of the forequarters on the knuckles. They occasionally walk erect for short distances.

Chimps are agile climbers, building nests high up in trees to rest in during midday and sleep in at night. They construct new nests in minutes by bending branches, intertwining them to form a platform and lining the edges with twigs. In some areas chimps make nests on the ground.

Diet Chimps are diurnal (but often active on moonlit nights) and begin their activities at dawn. After descending from their night nests they hungrily feed on fruits, their principal diet, and on leaves, buds and blossoms. After a while their feeding becomes more selective, and they will choose only the ripest fruit. They usually pick fruit with their hands, but they eat berries and seeds directly off the stem with their lips. Their diet consists of up to 80 different plant foods.

Caring for the Young The female chimp has an estrus cycle of about 34 to 35 days. While in heat, the bare skin on her bottom becomes pink and swollen, and she may mate with several males. She normally gives birth to just one baby, which clings tightly to her breast and, like a human baby, develops rather slowly. An infant can sit up at 5 months and stand with support at 6 months. It is still suckled and sleeps with its mother until about 3 years of age, finally becoming independent and separating from her at about 4 years. Sexual maturity is reached between 8 and 10 years.

Chimps are among the noisiest of all wild animals and use a complicated system of sounds to communicate with each other. A loud "wraaa" call, which can be heard more than a mile away, warns of something unusual or disturbing. They hoot "hoo-hoo-hoo," scream, grunt and drum on hollow trees with the flat of their hands, sometimes for hours.

Chimps touch each other a great deal and may kiss when they meet. They also hold hands and groom each other. An adult chimp often has a special "friend" or companion with which it spends a lot of time. Female chimps give their young a great deal of attention and help each other with babysitting chores. Older chimps in the group are usually quite patient with energetic youngsters.

Predators The number of chimps in the wild is steadily decreasing. The wilderness areas necessary to their survival are disappearing at an alarming rate as more forests are cut down for farming and other activities. As the human's closest relative the chimp is vulnerable to many of the same diseases, and their capture for medical research contributes to their decline, especially in West Africa. as more forests are cut down for farm activities. In addition, recent outbreaks of the incurable disease Ebola hemorrhagic fever, threaten to decimate important chimpanzee populations in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Did you know?

Chimpanzees use large sticks and branches as clubs or throw them at enemies like leopards and humans.

Chimps supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats. Their most frequent victims, however, are other primates such as young baboons, colobus monkeys and blue monkeys.

While the three children played near the slide, Glover says, a man sat near her and started talking about crime, about how things happen to children. He even mentioned kidnapping. He showed Glover scars he said he had gotten in fights.

"I turned my head to look at all the scars on his body," she says. "When I turned back, I didn't see my son.''

The children Shane was playing with were not around, either. "I started walking around the park, hollering and screaming.''

The next thing Glover remembers is seeing the same two children re-enter the park through a hole in a wire fence.

"I said, 'Where's my son?' " The boy and girl said they left him in the park. Glover took the children to the police station. They were let go after extensive questioning.

Police searched and questioned Glover and her relatives. "They thought maybe a family member took him out of the park,'' Glover said, adding that police also interviewed the man with the scars and released him.

Abduction by a stranger is rare, says Sarah White, a case manager with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, a state-run law enforcement support agency.

By far, most missing people cases are non-custodial parental kidnappings and runaways, White says.

Like Shane Walker, Christopher Dansby has never been found.

The Walker case is still active, according to Detective Cheryl Crispin, a New York Police Department spokesperson. The NYPD declined repeated requests for an interview or more details.

One lead in the days after Shane's disappearance was especially unnerving. Glover says she received a phone call saying her son was buried in an abandoned building. Police investigated and found nothing. To this day, Glover, 57, believes Shane, her only child, is alive. He would be 21.

"I just hope and pray that one day I see him,'' she says, speculating that by now he might have kids of his own.

"I would give him a hug and kiss and we'd go somewhere -- to Florida, anywhere -- just to get away, just to be with him.''

Glover and Shane's father still live in the neighborhood but left the apartment building years ago. Glover avoids walking past the playground.

"Every time I come in the area I start crying and feel depressed,'' she says. Police initially speculated, she says, that Shane might have been kidnapped and sold on the black market.

Some years ago, Glover appeared on "The Montel Williams Show," where a psychic told her Shane was being raised by a wealthy family. Glover brought a photograph of Shane and some of his toys to the show so the psychic could touch them. She said he ''was well taken care of and he was learning the piano,'' Glover recalls.

Though her time with him was short, Glover is comforted by memories of her young son. "He smiled all the time. He only laughed when tickled. ''He liked teddy bears and monkeys."

For a short time, Shane and his parents had a pet chimpanzee named James. The toddler enjoyed sticking bananas in the cage for James to eat.

Glover also recalls a trip they took to Disney World in Florida shortly before Shane went missing. He loved the rides, she says, but was afraid of Mickey Mouse. "He would just holler and scream. I had to carry him all around the park.''

Shane's recollections of her might be dim because he was so young when he disappeared, she says. Still, when she became ill a few years ago, Glover felt driven to hang on.

"I was praying that I survive so I could see him when they find him.''

If you have any tips about this case, please call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

Dr Fiqri, the vet of the Orangutan Foundation’s Reintroduction Programme gave the all clear - Memes was healthy and free from worms. Pak Eko Novi, from the Agency for Conservation of Natural Resources of Central Kalimantan, gave permission for the translocation.

Female orangutan, Memes, leaving the OCCQ and heading to the forests.

Memes was transported from the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine facility (OCCQ) by the Orangutan Foundation International’s (photo above) translocation team. The Orangutan Foundation Reintroduction Programme staff, accompanied by Pak Eko Novi, then took over the final stages of the translocation process.

Pak Eko Novi accompanying Memes in the speed boat up to Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve.

After a journey of 2 hours Memes arrived at Camp Gemini, in the Lamandau reserve.

The whole translocation process was filmed by Trans 7 (the Indonesian television company) and was observed by staff from Tanjung Puting National Park.

Trans 7 filming the translocation to raise awareness in Indonesia.

Dr Fiqri did a final check on Memes to make sure everything was well and safe for her. Memes seemed impatient to get back to her life in the forest (see photo below)!

Female Bornean orangutan, Memes, ready to get back in the trees!

Immediately after the cage was opened by Pak Eko Novi, Memes climbed up the nearest tree and didn’t look back, as she moved on into the other trees.

Memes headed straight for the nearest tree.

Dr Fiqri watched and smiled as Memes disappeared into the forest. He’s confident she will be very fast to adapt to her new home in the Lamandau reserve.

Two Camp Gemini staff followed Memes into the forest until she made a nest and went to sleep. The staff spent the night in the forest, sleeping in hammocks. Memes woke up early the next morning and moved off very quickly through the trees, eventually losing her two followers.

Memes is now living free in the Lamandau reserve but our work doesn’t end here, we must continue to protect these forests and the precious wildlife within.

The destruction of huge areas of Orang-utan habitat is driving the species to extinction and urgent decisions need to be made on how to prioritise conservation resources to best ensure the survival of the Orang-utan.

Tickets are now available for The Red Ape Debate, a fundraising event for WLT's Orang-utan Appeal in Borneo, where experts will discuss rehabilitation and in situ conservation as strategies for saving the Orang-utan.

Time may be running out for Sumatra's forest people, the auburn-haired orangutans that once lived across much of Sumatra. The great apes are now only found in northern Sumatra and Aceh, their numbers falling each year with every hectare of lowlands destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations or small scale farming.

A three-hour drive from Duri in the central northern part of Sumatra to Pekanbaru highlights just how much native forest has been lost.

There is barely one stand of primary forest left over a 100-kilometer journey; the haze of thatforest burning to make way for palm plantation farming stings the eyes and chokes travelers and residents alike.

According to research, the Sumatran orangutan was once found as far south west as Padang. Today, these great apes, found only in Sumatra, are on the critically endangered list and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The Red List suggests a population decline of Sumatran orangutans of more than 80 percent in the past 75 years.

There are believed to be just 6,000 left in the northern reaches of Sumatra and this number is fast declining with more habitat loss to illegal and legal logging, palm plantations and currently on the table, plans to clear 33,600 hectares of rainforest in the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem for pulp paper production, according to the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS).

A research report on the world's most endangered primates by Ian Singleton, Susie Ellis and Mark Leighton, states that more than 1,000 orangutans disappeared annually in the Leuser Ecosystem (National Park) during the late 1990s. 10 years on, there are fears the Sumatran orangutan may have less than a decade before it succumbs to total extinction.

This week, SOS, based in Bali, is joining hands with other orangutan conservation organizations around the world for "Orangutan Caring Week" to highlight the plight of these old men of the jungle and the rapacious destruction of their habitat, according to Dewi Kastariof SOS.

"Around the world, organizations caring for orangutans are working together this week to raise awareness of the plight of orangutans. SOS is visiting schools in Bali to teach students the value of our Indonesian jungles and how critical their protection is for the survival of orangutans," said Dewi.

SOS is also hosting a photographic exhibition of orangutans and their disappearing habitat at local Ubud restaurant Tutmak.

"SOS is also proud to present the first ever screening in Indonesia of the Australian-produced film The Burning Season by film maker Cathy Henkel," added Dewi.

The English version of the film that discuses the loss of Indonesia's primary forests, will be presented tonight (Thursday Nov. 12) at the Wantilan Pura Desa in Hanoman Street, Ubud, while the Indonesian language version of the film will be screened on Friday night.

The film traces the journey of entrepreneur Dorjee Sun who believes he can make money out of saving forests through selling carbon credits, and Jambi palm plantation farmer Achmadi, who slowly comes to understand that the palm oil he is planting comes at a greater cost than he had ever realized.

According to Greenpeace, Indonesia holds the dubious distinction of the fastest rate of primary forest clearing in the world.

In 2007, Greenpeace wrote that "Of the 44 countries, which collectively account for 90 percent of the world's forests, the country pursuing the world's highest annual rate of deforestation is Indonesia, with 1.8 million hectares [4,447,896 acres] per year between 2000 and 2005 - a rate of 2 percent a year, or 51 kilometers square every day."

Raising the general public's awareness of this great loss, and its potential to cause the extinction of the Sumatran orangutan, along with other flora and fauna of Sumatra's lost jungles, is the goal of SOS, a goal constantly under threat of being realized too late.

This undated handout photograph, made available by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), shows a male flanged orangutan hanging from a tree in Malaysian Borneo's Sabah State. Malaysian wildlife authorities are using electronic implants to keep track of orangutans in a bid to protect the endangered apes after they are freed into the wild, an official said Tuesday.

Although a wonderful sight to see, an Orangutan Babe being able to be raised by their Mum, I think that the intrusion of the media towards the mum is not right. Here Mum is, not knowing these people and her instincts are to protect her Babe. You can see how she tries to hide from the strangers and the cameras. I realize that the Babes are what brings thepeople to the zoo, however, in my opinion, this was a bit too early and not fair to Mum.

I also don't believe in breeding in Captive zoos when there are so many Great Apes in the wild that need help. Orphan Orangutans are dieing in their natural habitats, their habitats are being destroyed day by day, and then we breed to keep them in concrete floor cages such as this one.

This babe will never get the opportunity for freedom, swinging from one tree to the other in thousands of natural acres. That is why their arms are longer then any of the other Apes. It's their natural way of transporting, not scooting along a concrete floor. I feel bad for the new Babe for what his/her future holds.Video

California Cronicle, you should be ashamed of yourself for advertising for this cruel industry of entertainment! I'm sure you have read and seen the MANY media spots in regards to the attack of Charla Nash by Travis the Chimpanzee. Is your advertising for money? What about your scruples? You advertise , more people go, which then puts the public in danger and promotes this awful industry. Shame Shame!

Yes please do call Merritt Croom at 803-329-5620 and educate her!

Saturday

It's "Chimpfabulous!" -- literally: Be amazed as this one-of-a- kind chimp act swings into Rock Hill. "Chimpfabulous," starring the Rosaire Chimpanzees, will feature the world's only trick and fancy horseback riding chimp. The show will take place on the grassy area on Main Street across from the Wachovia Bank at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

ChristmasVille. For more information, call Merritt Croom at 803-329-5620.

I hope by now you've had a chance to watch and digest the CNN segment on “animal testing.” The host was pretty weak, and whoever did the ahead-of-time preparations is probably deeply in debt since they more than likely believe every advertiser's wild claim. They, and thus the host, swallowed hook, line, and sinker every bit of nonsense and venom spewed by the well-funded public relations machine misleadingly named the Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Let's start with P. Michael Conn's second claim: “… if you look at recent history, things like polio, tuberculosis, and smallpox, they're almost gone from the planet. These are triumphs of animal research.”

Setting polio aside for the moment, is tuberculosis “almost gone from the planet”? Not even close. Here's what the World Health Organization says: •Someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacilli every second.•Overall, one-third of the world's population is currently infected with the TB bacillus.

In 2005, estimated per capita TB incidence was stable or falling in all six WHO regions. However, the slow decline in incidence rates per capita is offset by population growth. Consequently, the number of new cases arising each year is still increasing globally and in the WHO regions of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia. The Mayo Clinic calls it “a common infectious disease.” What a triumph for animal research.

I always smile when I hear a defender of vivisection claim that the near eradication smallpox is a result of animal experimentation. The story they tell goes something like this: Edward Jenner studied animals and invented small pox vaccinations. Thus, animal research is responsible for the victory over smallpox.

This to gibberish. Jenner did study animals; he is credited as being the first person to observe and write about newly hatched cookoos pushing the eggs of the nest-builder(s) out of the nest. This is called brood-parasitism or sometimes nest-parasitism. But his work on smallpox and smallpox vaccinations had absolutely nothing to do with animal research even though animals were part of the story.

Jenner used humans. In fact, he used his son as an experimental subject. Inoculation was not invented by Jenner. Records are sketchy as to when inoculation against smallpox began, but it was widely practiced in Asia for many years, maybe centuries, before Europeans learned about the practice and began to utilize it.

At first, inoculation aganist smallpox was with pus from lesions on a human victim. A small bit of “matter” was collected and inserted into a series of intentional cuts on the person being inoculated. This was called variolation after variola , the Latin name for smallpox. A very readable and interesting book on the history of variolation in the West is Jennifer Lee Carrell's The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox . (E. P. Dutton, 2003.)

In fact, Jenner had been variolated against smallpox. Variolation was not without risks, and a small but not insignificant number of people contracted serious cases of smallpox and some died. Jenner was hoping to find a safer method when he inoculated his son with pig pox.

His interest in a safer method than variolation led him to try pus from lesions on the hands of milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, or vaccinia . It was generally recognized that milkmaids were rarely stricken with smallpox. And thus, vaccination replaced variolation, and vaccination and vaccine became the generic terms used for all future inoculants and inoculations. Animal research had absolutely nothing to do with any of this.

It is worrisome that a publicly-funded scientist like P. Michael Conn, who has appointed himself spokesperson for the vivisection industry and has received over $1million in tax-payer support, is either unaware of the historical facts behind the invention of vaccination, the current incidence of tuberculosis, or is simply a liar. He is either wrong or else dishonest.

Polio is an interesting case. Until polio could be grown in vitro , reservoirs of the virus were maintained through serial inoculations of rhesus macaques with tissue containing the virus. If one looked only at that fact, it could appear that the monkeys were a key element in the effort to develop a vaccine. But the whole story suggests something else.

Monkeys harboring the virus were killed and their brains harvested. This is the tissue that was used to inoculate the next batch of monkeys in order to keep a supply of the virus on hand. The virus-laden tissue was injected into their nasal passage and the virus quickly migrated into their brain. But the repeated reinoculations with brain tissue led to the development of a strain of polio much different from that circulating in the human population.

Additionally, because the results were so unambiguous, that is, injecting polio infected tissues into the nasal passages did indeed cause polio, it was falsely believed for a generation that polio was air-borne, when in fact, in natural settings it is ingested orally and lodges first in the gastrointestinal tract.

This was recognized early on by scientists studying humans, but the animal data was so compelling that a generation was lost as scientists based their studies on a different strain transmitted in a different way. The breakthrough came when scientists stopped culturing the virus in monkeys. Nobelprize.org says: The 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to John Franklin Enders and his junior associates Thomas Huckle Weller and Frederick Chapman Robbins "for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue." For forty years, dependence on a monkey host for propagation of the polio virus limited progress in basic studies until 1949 when Enders, Weller and Robbins showed how cultures of kidney and other human and monkey cells could produce large quantities of the virus. This breakthrough opened the way to studies that set standards for precision in investigations of other viruses and led directly to the engineering of the Salk and Sabin vaccines that eliminated the dreaded specter of a disabling and often lethal disease. And then there's Tom Holder. Wow. He says: No matter what Dr. Greek [MD, medical historian, author of five books on the animal model] says, the fact is, is that every single medical advance, we're not just talking about most, we're talking about every, single, medical advance in human history has come about because of research using animals. Where did this kid go to school? He must read only industry-supported websites; it's clear that he hasn't bothered to read even a tiny bit about the history of medicine. Every, single, medical advance in human history. Words fail me. How can anyone be this totally ignorant; this indoctrinated? It defies belief.

The story of smallpox recounted above is sufficient to disprove Holder's entire shtick, since even one example disproves his desk-pounding: every, single, medical advance. Not most, by God, every, single, one.

Here are a couple of medical advances that Tom Holder might consider reading about if he doesn't want to continue looking like a total ignoramus: x-rays, the prevention of scurvy, cholera, the treatment of vesico-vaginal fistula, or even cleanliness in hospitals. I would strongly recommend that Holder start reading. A good first choice might be Roy Porter's The Greatest Gift to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity . (Norton, 1997.)

Holder is so woefully uninformed that nothing he says can be taken with much seriousness. He claims for instance that although there are differences between humans and all other species, that the similarities make one species a good productive model of another. I know it's a lot to ask, but Holder ought to read LaFollett and Shank's Brute Science (Routledge, 1996) if he can get through Porter.

At about 9:15 into the broadcast, the host cites statistics from the Foundation for Biomedicaal Research, essentially giving CNN's stamp of approval, as far as viewers are concerned, to what is really nothing other than a front group for the industry.

Like Holder's and Conn's silliness, there isn't much to these statistics if one looks at them closely. They are like a partially remembered dream; the more one thinks about them, the more vaporous they become. The plain facts behind what Conn calls the animal research war amount to a bare trickle of illegal and generally not very serious incidents. As far as illegal activities are concerned, there is nothing vaguely like a war going on. See: Illegal Incidents" on the rise?

At about 19:19, just as the segment is coming to a close, Greek challenges Conn to a debate noting that the animal research community isn't genuinely interested in public discussion. Conn's response is a gem of deception, delusion, an outright lie or some insane conglomeration of all three: Dr. Greek knows very well that we've had discussions in the literature before, we've pointed out problems in his fact-gathering. My co-author of The Animal Research War [James Parker]documented the vast majority of the quotes Dr. Greek uses in his books and we were able to show that when you trace them back to the origins they bear very little resemblance to the original quote; [Holder begins nodding his head in agreement] they've undergone some sort of literary Photoshopping. When you find the individuals who these quotes were attributed to, in most cases they will distance themselves from the quote saying: "this is not my opinion, it's not what I said, and its so far taken from context as to be unbelievable."

So we've done that experiment a number of times. Also, in the book we take Dr. Greek on head-on. In The Animal Research War we talk about a number of his issues. And if he'd like I'd be happy to send him a copy – no charge. I paid for my copy of Conn's little book. I say little not as a disparagement, but simply because it's a little book. It's just barely five and a half inches wide and not quite eight and a half inches tall. It's 199 pages long, including 42 pages of appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. Appendix A is a list of twenty questions; a sort of FAQ. Appendix B is a list of pro-vivisection websites. There are an additional 20 pages of front matter, title, contents, forward, and preface.

There are two entries in the index for Dr. Greek. (Three for me!) One entry is on page 24, the other is on page 121, which should seem a little odd if, as Conn claims, he and Parker took “Dr. Greek on head-on” and "documented the vast majority of the quotes Dr. Greek uses."

On page 24, Conn and Parker write a paragraph that mentions Greek: As soon as Rossell's press conference about ONPRC began, animal rights groups began circling around for the kill. Ray Greek, president of Americans for Medical Advancement—it's hard to tell how many besides Greek belong to this antiresearch group—rushed forward with his comments on the lack of value of animal models, notably monkeys, in studying health. Of course, Greek did not mention that Rossell had once worked for his wife, veterinarian Jean Greek. She had attested to his skills in animal care at the time of his application for employment at the Primate Center. Veterinarian Sheri Speede, DVM, at the head of the local chapter of IDA, weighed in, indignantly discounting the value of “any research derived from the use of a stressed out primate” and claiming, wrongly, that “the public cannot see what they're paying for” (Avgerinos). When whackos like Conn and Parker get going, there doesn't seem to be a limit to their wild claims. The bibliographic entry says: Avgerinos, Zoy. Animal cruelty caught on tape. CBS Worldwide. September 7, 2000. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/08/323248.shtml?discuss Check out the discussion for yourself.

On page 121, the only other time Conn and Parker mention Greek, they complain about a quotation that he included in Sacred Cows and Golden Geese . Here's what Conn and Parker write: Ray Greek, MD, whom we met in Chapter 2 [the passage above from page 24], cites Mark Feinberg, a leading AIDS researcher: What good does it do you to test something [a vaccine] in a monkey? You find five or six years from now that it works in the monkey, and then you test it in humans and you realize that humans behave tottaly differently from monkeys, so you've wasted five years.

“Monkeys do not die of AIDS. Humans do. (Greek, 203.) When Dr Feinberg had a chance to speak for himself, he said: There are many instances where the use of animal model research is absolutely essential for evaluating the efficacy of [AIDS] candidate vaccines. Moreover, the statement that ‘Monkeys do not get AIDS; humans do,” is completely false. The SIV [simian immunodeficiency virus] infection model for AIDS has been extremely important for understanding critical aspects of AIDS pathogenesis that cannot be studied in humans. I do not wish to be held responsible for comments . . . that have been so removed from their context that they no longer convey the meaning I had intended. (personal email from mark Feinberg, MD, PhD, to Charles Nicoll, PhD.) These two pages are the only places in The Animal Research War where Conn and Parker “Take Dr. Greek on head-on.” If, as Conn says, “we've pointed out problems in his fact-gathering, my co-author of The Animal Research War documented the vast majority of the quotes Dr. Greek uses in his books,” that they would have included more than a single claimed misquote or intentional bit of “literary Photoshopping” in their little book.

In fact, Conn and Parker lied in their book , and Conn apparently lied on CNN assuming he can recall what he wrote in The Animal Research War .

Here's what Greek actually wrote on page 203:

The federal government has devoted billions to discovering a vaccine to protect against AIDS. As already indicated, too much of that money has been utterly wasted on animal experiments. Dr. Mark Feinberg, a leading AIDS researcher wrote: To make an AIDS vaccine, we really need to know more about the basic human immune system and how it works. They knew next to nothing about it when they made the polio vaccine, but that's not going to work here. We need to understand more about how the immune system recognizes and deals with HIV antigens. Clearly few, if any, people can deal with HIV once they're infected with it; nobody that we know of has ever cleared the virus from their bodies after infection. Somehow we have to demand that the vaccine be better than that. I think the way of doing that is doing studies in human beings at very early stages of the development of vaccines to test whether certain ideas work; then you go back to the laboratory to modify them and then back to human beings . . . What good does it do you to test something in a monkey? You find five or six years from now that it works in the monkey, and then you test it in humans and you realize that humans behave totally differently from monkeys, so you've wasted five years.” [M.A.J. McKenna, “Science Watch ‘Manhattan Project' for AIDS Q&A With Dr. Mark Feinberg, a Leading AIDS Researcher ‘We Need the Human Trials as Well,'” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 21 Sep. 1997.] Of course, because Dr. Feinberg has a vested interest in animal-models he went on to say that animal models are “incredibly important.” He explained quite well why they are useless but did not go into to detail as to why they are so “incredibly important.” Could money have anything to do with why they are so important? Notice how selective Conn and Parker were in quoting Greek. Notice too that they were misleading about what Greek said about Feinberg's beliefs about animal models. And notice particularly that they added the sentence “Monkeys do not die of AIDS. Humans do.” I don't see how an author could be any more dishonest than this.

Conn and Parker also display significant confusion about the instances they write about. As soon as Rossell's press conference about ONPRC began, animal rights groups began circling around for the kill. Ray Greek, president of Americans for Medical Advancement—it's hard to tell how many besides Greek belong to this antiresearch group—rushed forward with his comments on the lack of value of animal models, notably monkeys, in studying health. Of course, Greek did not mention that Rossell had once worked for his wife, veterinarian Jean Greek. But Rossell had been in contact with IDA for some time prior to the press conference they are referring to. He had begun talking with IDA for months prior to going public. Matt was employed by the Oregon Primate Center as an enrichment technician and had spent months documenting the problems he was observing. IDA asked Dr. Greek, perhaps the leading authority on the problems associated with animal models, and USDA/APHIS past-inspector of the primate center, Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown to participate in the news conference. The claim about animal rights groups circling around for the kill is not only a poor metaphor, but also misrepresents Greek's role.

Conn and Holder are clearly uninformed and in the case of Conn, apparently willing to lie. I suspect Holder is just a dupe. I could go on at length about nearly every claim they made and about every “fact” attributed to the Foundation for Biomedical Research, but won't. For more about FBR, see: "Illegal Incidents" on the rise?

This organization could really use some donations. With donations, medical supplies would be more available to help these poor little orphaned chimpanzees. It's bad enough the anguish they endure seeing their mother killed, then to be forced into the market of selling them as pets, to become so ill that by the time they are rescued, they are too sick to help. What a very sad situation for all of them.

This holiday season, think of their lives, any donation would certainly help. Find it in your heart to buy one less toy for your child or family and give to these little guys.

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Our dear Fatim passed away last Monday with all our team by her side.

We could not do anything more to help her at the end on this long illness and we are all really sad for her. Fatim will remain forever in our memories and we hope she will keep an eye on her chimps friends and all the team at the CCC.

Just look at that face, how can anyone say no? My heart goes out to Fatim! Bless you and please forgive mankind for what they have done to you.

BOTH of Torbay's wildlife attractions have received top awards for science and animal exhibits.

The work of Paignton Zoo and Living Coasts in Torquay, all part of the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, was recognised at the 2009 British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums awards, with a Paignton scientist taking a personal accolade.

The zoo won the research project for a study into gorilla behaviour by researcher Kirsten Pullen for a doctorate thesis.

Dr Pullen said: "It is very nice to receive recognition for all the hard work.

"This award is especially important as it comes from the zoo community and was judged by my peers.

"My PhD is a milestone in my career. I aim to do post-doctorate research in this field.

"The work has practical applications for animal husbandry and conservation breeding.

"The award is also recognition for the commitment of both Paignton Zoo and the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust to science and research."

Dr Pullen was a zoo keeper and rose to a senior level at Bristol Zoo before joining Paignton Zoo and moving into research.

Paignton also received a commendation in the education section for its junior zoo vet experience and new enclosure category for the £1.5million Crocodile Swamp, while Living Coasts was commended for Mangrove: Roots of the Sea.

The zoo received a commendation in the PR category for its video coverage of the birth of four rare Sumatran tiger cubs in February.

Living Coasts took a marketing commendation for its marketing through the use of an innovative penguin game.

Director of marketing Pippa Craddock said: "We are very proud of our success this year.

"The wins are tribute to our dedication to conservation and the importance of the visitor experience, and to our staff who make our zoos such special places."

Dr Miranda Stevenson, association director, said: "This award demonstrates how much time and effort our leading zoos are investing to help change public behaviour and ensure the future of planet Earth."

Conservation medicine or “one health medicine” exists at the intersection of animal health, human health, and ecosystem health. It differs from classical public health epidemiology in that it aims to protect and improve ecosystem and animal health, in addition to human health. Conservation medicine studies diseases shared among species and interactions with environmental variables over long-term biological and spatial scales.

Zoonotic diseases and the emergence of new diseases are of primary concern, and are particularly important when threatened and endangered great ape populations are involved. The effective practice of conservation medicine demands and integrated team approach involving wildlife and livestock veterinarians, local physicians, public health professionals, ecologists, politicians and communities. Common interests, improved data collection, and economies of scale argue for combining health surveillance and delivery efforts. This team approach must be tailored to the infrastructure and sophistication of the host country’s human and livestock health systems, and must also be appropriate for the size and characteristics of the great ape populations.

Examples from gorilla conservation programs range from small populations with individually identifiable gorillas surrounded by dense human populations, to large unhabituated gorilla populations in areas of very low human density. In the successful Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, the wildlife veterinarian coordinates the “one health” approach, because of their training in wildlife and livestock medicine as well as zoonotic and emerging disease issues.

MGVP staff work in three countries: Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mountain gorillas are found only in Central Africa and only in two regions: 1) the Virunga Massif mountain range which includes the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda (Parc National des Volcans), the Virunga National Park in the DRC (Parc National de Virunga) and the Mgahinga National Park in Uganda; and, 2) the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda.

The success of MGVP, Inc. is dependent upon working agreements with various organizations and well-established partnerships. Our primary partners include the Office Rwandais du Toursime et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) in Rwanda, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in Uganda, and the Insitut pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and their respective park authorities.

The field veterinarians in each country work together whenever possible. The regional headquarters are centrally located in Musanze, Rwanda—an hour's drive from both the DRC and Uganda. The project maintains its international headquarters in Maryland, USA, and its regional headquarters in Ruhengeri (Musanze), Rwanda. The MGVP staff also has access to dedicated office space in Goma, DRC as well as in Buhoma and Kampala, Uganda.

A readership study at Animalfair.com found that 84 percent of pet parents will give their furry pals gifts this holiday season. But do they really need more toys?Here are a few unusual gifts that will make a difference.

1 Every year, animal lovers adopt dogs and cats, but have you ever thought about adopting agorilla? Through the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, you can give a donation, and an endangered gorilla will be cared for in your name. For more information on how you can have your very own Donkey Kong, visit HERE

2 This holiday season, give the gift of protection to endangered animals that can’t defend themselves. Honorary board member Leonardo DiCaprio already has the International Fund for Animal Welfare on his Christmas list, and you can check it out HERE

3 Bring Pets Home (www.bringpetshome.org) is working with a whopping 140 retail stores — including Wal-Mart, Zales and Macy’s — to help the millions of shelter pets find loving homes for the holidays. All you have to do is purchase those perfect red shoes or that new blender, and a portion of your purchase is automatically donated to shelters.

I told you last week that we have another gorilla baby in Mikeno - and I can now confirm it is true!

This is the FIFTH newborn this year! We do not yet know if it is a boy or a girl, but we can confirm that the mother is Maheshe, of the Kabirizi family.

Here are the first pictures…

Martin took these pictures, a Ranger who used to be based at Kibati and is now at Bukima. I think you will agree he is an excellent photographer. The baby was born on 14th November.

We actually used to think Maheshe was a male - but obviously we were wrong! Maheshe was born on the 19th June 2003, and this is her first baby.

These pictures were difficult to take because Maheshe is very shy. She lost her mother, Furaha, when she was very young, and so can often be found with her brother, Mivumbi.

Let’s hope she stays safe and healthy for her new baby!

Thank you also for all your donations to the Senkwekwe Center - the new home for Ndeze & Ndakasi. It is wonderful to receive this support from all of you. I am very excited about seeing them move to their new home.

Oh my goodness who in their right mind thinks that Dubai Zoo is an acceptable place for animals to live?

I thought I would take my one-year-old there over Eid and even she was disgusted. I understood that it is only two dirhams to enter so I thought I was prepared to see something not so great but come on, I was shocked and appalled at the conditions these beautiful animals are kept in.

Surely the fact that the vast majority of them are pacing the floor tells you something and no the gorilla isn’t doing tricks it wants help.

Dubai’s residents and its Municipality should be deeply embarrassed that they have a zoo like this in Dubai which aims to be a tourist attraction. Surely there is a better way to keep these amazing creatures?

says gorillas living in a large swamp in the Republic of Congo are increasingly threatened by human activity.

The gorillas are part of a group of more than 125,000 gorillas discovered last year in swamp forests adjacent to the southwest border of Lac Tele Community Reserve.

The society says the swamp also supports large numbers of chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys, elephants and other rain forest species.

According to conservationresearchers, imminent threats to the swamp include new logging operations, oil exploration, an influx of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and, an increase in the human population.

GUAYAMA, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico has such a bad history with research monkeys running amok, some residents are stunned that its territorial government has approved a plan to import and breed thousands of primates for sale to U.S. researchers.

Bioculture Ltd., with facilities at 19 sites around the world, has secured permits to begin operating next summer in Guayama, a small, depressed mountain district in southeastern Puerto Rico. They want to turn the Caribbean territory into a major supplier of primates, much to the dismay of islanders already dealing with a plague of patas monkeys — descendants of lab escapees that run though backyards, stop traffic and destroy crops.

The company, based in the African island nation of Mauritius, says the operation will employ at least 50 people and buy fruit from local farmers, an important consideration on an island where unemployment is nearly 16 percent.

"This will help many people in the community," said Olga Colon, a local school principal who has collected 300 signatures in support of the facility. She said Bioculture has pledged to buy supplies for her school.

But the project is opposed by everyone from Guayama Mayor Glorimari Jaime to Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro, who says it's unethical to breed monkeys for research, and renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.

Annual Monkey Feast draws tourists to Thailand

THAILAND (NBC) - About 1,000 monkeys were treated to a feast with special meals parachuted into a shrine compound Sunday in Thailand.

The annual Monkey Feast lures tourists from all over the world.

Skydivers parachuted to the ground, carrying platefuls of food to serve the furry primates.

Tables were set full of food that looked good enough for human consumption: four tons of fruit, vegetables, soft drinks and assorted deserts.

The event was started in 1989 by an Indian businessman looking for a way to increase tourism in the area.

"It's really cool," American tourist Sara Arntz said. "It is a different thing than anything we have in America. Monkeys just fly everywhere, steal your food. It is really cool. It is once-in-a-lifetime experience."

The incredible 14-stone ape is set to becomea star in his own series of TV ads that willpack more of a punch than the tea-loving,cheeky chimps of the British TV adverts ever could.

The 17-year-old chimpanzee is the world's onlynon-human martial arts black belt and hasmanaged to perfect the sort of flying kicks,quick chops and smashes that kung fu starssuch as Bruce Lee made famous.

He has been studying and practising theclassic fighting styles for most of hislife - and the 4ft 6in tall ape is aboutto become a huge star after signing upfor a major advertising campaign.

He learned his flying trade almost byaccident, after picking up the orientalskills from owner and karate instructorCarmen Presti.

He allowed the hairy-weight fighterand family pet to sit in on the classesand Charlie soon picked up a few tips.

After a few months of watching his master,the then one-year-old chimp began copying his moves.

And after some additional coaching, Charliewas taking on experienced black belts with ease.

Owner Carmen, from Niagara Falls in theUnited States, was amazed when he startedaping his moves, but hasn't been surprisedat how popular he is becoming.

He said: "He was jumping up and downand slapping punch bags, so I decidedto show him how to hit them properly.

"Within five minutes I'd taught himhow to make a fist, take up a fightingstance, throw a punch combination andperform a karate kick.

"It was an amazing combination of speed,flexibility and sheer brute force."

And despite suffering a few bruises,bloody noses and cracked ribs from hisyoung protege's enthusiastic style overthe years, Carmen has helped Charliebecome the first chimp black belt.

They met martial arts movie star ChuckNorris, who was so impressed by his high-flying style that he showed a video ofCharlie's greatest hits to other karateexperts. They agreed he was good enoughto fight for a black belt, which he achievedeasily.

He has also met celebrities such as singerBilly Joel and American comic stars WhoopiGoldberg and Jay Leno, but is now on theverge of international stardom himself.

Charlie has just signed up to star in aseries of ads for breakfast cereal firmKellogg's, although the Presti familyare not cashing in on their unusual star.

Instead, they will help fund a sanctuaryfor unwanted animals such as the 21 apesthey are currently giving a home to.

Charlie is owned by Carmen Presti who calls himself a sanctuary. After exploiting Charlie for years and making allot of money off of him and has been retired he wants to become a non-profit? See other articles on the Sanctuary.

Chimpanzees are very strong and aggressive, sometimes even without being provoked and Charlie also has Karate training. Would this make him more dangerous then a regular Male Chimpanzee? Would he be more dangerous then Travis the Chimpanzee, that brutally attacked Charla Nash?Website

A Sanctuary that allows a 12 year child to pet the Primates? Sandra Herold also thought Travis was safe. Now we do fear what we know. Because he can brush his teeth makes him what? Human? Safe? Non-aggressive?

Carmen Presti, owner of the The Primate Sanctuary, helps 21 year old Charlie the Chimp brush his teeth.

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WILSON: Carmen Presti will discuss primate sanctuary with the Wilson Town Board Wednesday

By Bill Wolcott/wolcottb@gnnewspaper.comCarmen Presti’s current neighbors hope he keeps his monkeys and exotic birds in the yellow brick building on Livingston Avenue.

However, the 26 primates and assorted birds are crammed in the former store and he hopes to give them more room in a primate sanctuary in Wilson. The neighbors on Youngstown-Wilson in Wilson aren’t so happy about it.

It’s something Livingston Avenue residents can’t understand.

“I think the people in Wilson are just being prejudiced. I really do. They just don’t want them there and it’s nonsense,” said Dorothy Bowers. “They are animals and people love the animals. We go look at them. My grandkids love them. I love them and we don’t want anything to happen to them.”

Latisha Hall, who also lives nearby, agrees. “My 12-year-old daughter comes here all the time. They have them outside and let you touch them, the little ones and big ones. They are no problem to the neighborhood, none whatsoever.”

Presti, who is a Wilson taxpayer, will meet with the Wilson Town Board on Wednesday hoping to can allay property-owner fears.

“It’s safe,” he said. “These animals are wonderful animals. You fear what you don’t know ... They need bigger digs and that’s what we’re going to do out here.”

Presti said he came to Wilson in 2001 before he bought the property and felt there would be no problem.

Opponents are concerned with the safety, the noise, the smell, the pollution and that Presti will not pay taxes.

“It concerns me as well,” Supervisor Joe Jastrzemski said. “I do know he would like to be tax-exempt. I don’t have a problem of him being tax-exempt himself, but if would like to put up a 12,000-square foot building, my contention is, he’s got to pay taxes on it.”

Paul Proulx, a Wilson resident who recently sold his last piece of property in Niagara Falls, feels that decision for Presti to come to Wilson is up to Presti.

“I see no problem with him moving here,” said Proulx, who has owned Tropic Cove pet stores on Military Road and Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls.

“The man is quality. He’s into it,” said Proulx who was interviewed at the Wilson House. “He does it right. He gives them the right foods, medical care. I have nothing to bad to say about the man and I’ve been in the industry 25 years. He takes very good care of his animals.

“The kids love going to see his animals. You see them standing around the building looking in.”

The windows were a bit steamed and soiled on Tuesday. The property around the building was clean. Inside, there were caged birds in the front and chimps a little deeper, peering out, perhaps looking for attention. There’s a chain link fence inside for the bigger primates.

Neighbors can’t go there — some of those neighbors are hoping Presti doesn’t go.

“I don’t want them to move,” Bowers said. “It’s a pleasure to have them across the street. They don’t make noise, the kids on the street make more noise than they do. You can barely hear them. In the summer, when the door is open, you can’t smell anything. They’re quiet, they’re clean. What more can you ask of a neighbor?”

For his new book, Brutal Kinship, National Geographic staff photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols shot chimpanzees in the wild, in captivity, and in sanctuaries. "I took these photos," he said, "to let people decide if we are treating these close human relatives with the fairness, justice, and compassion they deserve."

Jane Goodall is someone whose influence is quiet and profound. As alluded to here, and for so many others, her work in the 70s was revelatory. Humans and chimps are not alien species to one another. And, even more profoundly, once the contrast between simians and humans is made so compellingly, how evolution explains the singular qualities of humanity is clear.

BILL MOYERS: I know that you consider cruelty the worst human sin, right? I mean, you wrote, “Once we accept that a living creature has feelings and suffers pain. Then if we knowingly and deliberately inflict suffering on that creature, we are equally guilty. Whether it be human or animal, we brutalize ourselves.” But you learn from the chimpanzees that animals can be cruel, too.

JANE GOODALL: Yes, but I think a chimpanzee doesn’t have the intellectual ability, or I don’t think it does, to deliberately inflict pain. You know, we can plan a torture, whether it’s physical or mental. We plan it. And in cold blood we can execute it. The chimpanzee’s brutality is always– you know the spur of the moment. It’s some trigger in the environment that causes this craze, almost, of violence.

BILL MOYERS: You saw gangs of males attacking single females.

JANE GOODALL: Yes. Yes.

BILL MOYERS: You saw cannibalism among–

JANE GOODALL: We’ve seen cannibalism.

BILL MOYERS: –the chimps. I mean, including females who eat the newborn females of members of their own community although there’s other food available. You describe primal warfare among the chimps. What do we take from that? Since you’re looking at them to see what we can learn about us, and about our evolution, what conclusion do you reach about their aggression?

JANE GOODALL: Well, some people have reached the conclusion that war and violence is inevitable in ourselves. I reach the conclusion that I do believe we have brought aggressive tendencies with us through our long human evolutionary path. I mean, you can’t look around the world and not realize that we can be, and often are, extremely brutal and aggressive. And equally, we have inherited tendencies of love, compassion, and altruism, because they’re there in the chimp. So, we’ve brought those with us. So, it’s like each one of us has this dark side and a more noble side. And I guess it’s up to each one of us to push one down and develop the other.

BILL MOYERS: You even wrote once that it was your study of chimpanzees that crystallized your own belief in the ultimate destiny toward which humans are still evolving. What is that? What is that ultimate destiny? And how did the chimps contribute to your understanding?

JANE GOODALL: Because, when you have the thing that’s more like us than any other living thing on the planet that helps you to realize the differences. You know, how are we different. And so, we have this kind of language. So, that’s led to our intellectual development. That’s led to refining of morals. And, you know, the questions about meaning and life and everything. So I think we’ve moving or should be moving towards some kind of spiritual evolution. Where we understand without having to ask why.

BILL MOYERS: But “why” is the fundamental question, isn’t it? I mean, isn’t that what one of the things that makes us human is we can ask why?

JANE GOODALL: Yeah, but maybe we ask too often. Maybe we should sometimes be content with just a knowing and being satisfied with the knowing, without saying, “Why do I know?”

This makes 3 pet monkeys that irresponsible owners have allowed to get loose in the past 3 weeks! This is why we need laws, to prevent people from owning these animals. They are not pets folks, they are wild animals, and to endanger them in the streets with cars is unacceptable.

Why was the monkey left in the SUV by himself to begin with? A dog being left in a car would be confiscated by the authorities, so why was this ok? Does this Justine have a permit to have this monkey? Clothes on? egh...To have a monkey with children is also very dangerous. No doubt George is young, but watch out when he goes through sexual maturity because the children and the public will all be in danger. Do some research on monkeys before you decide to buy one.Story-

There was a lot of business going on at the square on Black Friday -- monkey business.

"There's a monkey in the road!" said Karen Sue McDonald to her friends, Chris White and Emily Cartwright. They had just taken her to lunch for her birthday and were wandering around for some Christmas shopping.

Her friends didn't believe her at first.

"I thought she was crazy," said Emily, laughing.

Then she saw it too.

"It's got clothes on!" said Emily.

At first, they thought the tiny animal sitting in the middle of the road in front of Merle Norman's had been hit by a car and injured.

"It started walking and I realized it was alright," he said. "I called to it like a dog and it came right over."

They coaxed the young monkey to the side of the road, but it was still wary of these three strangers. Finally, White got close enough to step on the end of its leash. When another person approached, the monkey scurried up his pants leg and onto his shoulders, clinging to his head for protection.

Within minutes, the owners were found -- a family originally from Yorkshire, England, vacationing in the area.

"He's a Capuchin monkey," said Justine, who was eating at a restaurant on the Square with her husband, Tony, and their three children when the monkey, George (curious, no doubt!) somehow escaped their SUV.

Natives of South America, Capuchin monkeys are small, weighing 3 to 9 pounds as adults. They have long furry tails they can wrap around tree branches -- or Chris's neck, as the case may be. According to the Rainforest Alliance web site, they are clever and easy to train and are often trained to help quadriplegics. They also are becoming popular as pets. Because of their easy adaptation to new environments and high fertility rate, they are not as threatened as other species in their native habitat, the rainforests of South America.

As soon as George spotted his family, his frantic, musical little chirps escalated and he scurried into Justine's arms. The family thanked his rescuers before leaving, George safely tucked away in their embrace.

To our ex-Chimpanzees

To Louie we love you and may God Bless your soul.To Mikey we love you and hope you will always be happy and healthy.

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Help Save Our Citizens and Our Chimpanzees

Call your state representative, tell them to Ban Chimpanzees in your state!

January's Article

From the Fall of 2008 Through 2009 – The Chimpanzee Year in Review

This past year has been one of sadness, sorrow, change, and hope. I would like to take this opportunity, as we begin 2010, to reflect back and highlight the changes that we now, hopefully, are really beginning to see as the world’s attitude towards privately owned chimpanzees, and primates in general, change in a positive way.

The highlights begin, actually, late in the fall of 2008 when our chimps, Mikey and Louie, the two busiest and most popular working chimpanzees in America, retired to Little Rock Zoo. I wanted them to have a future as part of a family of chimps, and to have a safe and permanent home that they could live their life as chimpanzees, not a member of the human society.

In November of 2009, Connor and Kramer the chimpanzees owned by private pet owner Jeanne Rizzotto escape from her home near Red Lodge, Montana. They spent over an hour running loose, crossing highways and entering neighbor’s property. Connor, a habitual biter as described in court papers filed after the incident, bites a woman on the arm as she tries to keep him out of her home, losing 6-8 inches of skin from her arm. Rizzotto is told to keep the chimps in quarantine at her home while health officials investigate the incident. Rizzotto claims the chimps were let out by a vandal that had cut a lock, however that remains unproven. All of these articles have been posted on this Simian Library.

In February, 2009, tragedy strikes, and the world’s attention turns to the issue of private ownership of chimpanzees. On a cold afternoon in Stamford Connecticut, Travis the Chimpanzee attacks a long time friend of owner Sandra Herold named Charla Nash in Herold’s driveway. Travis is shot and killed by a patrol officer as the 14 year old, 200 pound male chimpanzee; tries to pry open the door of his patrol car as he responded to the tragedy. Nash is rushed to the hospital, and remains in a coma for months.

Weeks later, in early March, the US House of Representatives passes the Captive Primate Safety Act, banning sales of all primates across state lines. The bill moves on to the senate, where it still sits, not being acted on, to this day.

In late November, 2008, neighbors turned in a couple in Houston, Texas for a chimpanzee living in a garage in a suburban neighborhood. Fred Henry, now known simply as Henry, was over fifteen years old and had been living in the garage in a cage for 15 years. Weighing only 65 pounds, about 100 pounds underweight, the emaciated chimp is taken to the local SPCA where veterinarians and animal officials nurse him back to health. On Feb 23, 2009, Henry is moved to Chimp Haven in Shreveport, LA to live out the rest of his life with other chimps in a safe and enriching environment.

Later in March, a chimpanzee named Timmy escapes from his owners’ home in rural Missouri. The owner, Mary Overton, was a former director of The Simian Society of America, a group that promotes and encourages private primate ownership. Timmy is shot and killed by a police officer as he attempts to pry open the door to the officer’s patrol car. Investigators charge all residents of the home with animal cruelty, as they find a “puppy mill” on the premises, with dead dog carcasses scattered throughout the property and over a hundred sick and undernourished animals, including several monkeys.

On March 4, 2009 Nightline on ABC airs over fifteen minutes of footage taken by a HSUS undercover worker at the University Of Louisiana Lafayette National Primate Research Center. The video shows acts of cruelty and inhumane treatment of chimpanzees, including scores of baby chimpanzees in a holding cell with no enrichment or even a blanket. The video brings new awareness to the plight of research chimpanzees, and turns up the pressure on the labs. A follow up investigation by the USDA, following the issuance of a 108 page complaint by the HSUS against the lab, reinforces the findings of the video taken.

Carole Noon, founder and director of Save the Chimps in New Mexico and Fort Pierce Florida passes away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 59. Noon, perhaps the world’s most famous chimpanzee advocate, founded Save the Chimps in 1997. She led the purchase of the former troubled Coulston Foundation research facility near Almagordo, New Mexico in order to rescue over 250 chimpanzees that had been used by the government for research, mostly from the space program in the 60’s and 70’s. The chimpanzees in her care, now numbering over 270, were being moved from New Mexico to the Florida facility, hailed as the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world. Noon left a legacy of care, compassion, and love for the species that will never be duplicated. The chimpanzee community misses her dearly.

In June, a news story from a Tampa Florida television station airs a story about a baby chimpanzee now residing at Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota, Florida, home of the Rosaire family of circus trainers. The chimpanzee, named Eli, was supposedly rejected at birth by his mother and is being raised by Kay Rosaire and Gini Valbuena. Valbuena, a long time buyer of baby chimpanzees that once described herself as being “addicted to chimpanzees”, is advertised in the news story as the chimps’ “full time nanny”.

On December 10, 2009 Tom, a 44 year old chimpanzee that lived the last 14 years at the wonderful Fauna Foundation in Canada, passed away. Tom had been a research chimpanzee for the first thirty years of his life, languishing in a five foot by five foot by seven foot high stainless steel cage. He was the victim of countless laboratory tests, biopsies, injections, and suffering. Tom was the face of Project R&R, aimed at releasing all chimpanzees from biomedical and invasive research, and the driving force behind the Great Ape Protection Act now before Congress. There are still 1400 chimpanzees used in biomedical research in the United States today.

On December 17th, 2009, ten more chimpanzees arrived in Fort Pierce Florida as part of the Great Chimp Migration continues. Save the Chimps, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world, transfers ten chimps at a time to the islands in the Florida facility as funds allow. An anonymous donor gave the $25,000 for this trip, and the Arcus Foundation has agreed to match all funds donated to Save the Chimps up until April of 2010. Start your year right – and donate to the Great Chimp Migration today!